Finally done with the kitchen!

So, it  must've been over 3 weeks since I've started this kitchen and finally I'm done. I will post pictures later, but I'm so excited.

GreenEx came this morning to pick up all my junk and they were super fast and awesome. Of course because everyone seemed to be spring cleaning as well, it was hard getting an appointment.

Now all that is left is bathroom, living room and bedroom.

Throw your sponge away!

Do it, now!

Here is a better and cleaner way to wash dishes. Instead of using a sponge that will spread germs from one place to another use a dish rag. A clean one for every new job around the kitchen. Now, you might think that is a waste of money buying all these rags and even waste of water to wash them all, but here are some tips.

• When you have old towels, hand towels or other, cut them to size and use them for dish rags. This goes the same for using them as dusting rags. You can also use socks that are missing a partner, old cotton shirts and so on.
• Get a separate laundry basket or something similar to place your rags that are used to wash dishes. Kitchen rags are greasy and you don't want them mixed in with your clothes.
• Before placing them in said laundry basket let them dry, so you don't get moldy rags.
• At the end of the week you can wash them. Use the hottest and longest setting for your rags to ensure they will be clean.
• Use the plastic mesh bags that carry oranges and onions as a scrubber. Just place the rag inside the bag, tie it off and your ready to go.

• After you are finished just hang it to dry. See, you are recycling already. :D

Here are before and after pics:

Drought washing.

Once again another useful tip from Organic Housekeeping:

Wash your dishes as if you were in a drought. Remove all dishes from your sink. Start off with utensils, place them in the sink and add dish detergent to your dish rag. Wet it with hot water and proceed to wash all the utensils with just the rag. Put the utensils in a rack to "marinate" as you wash more. Once you are finished turn on the hot water and rinse off the soap and let the utensils dry.

Then do the same for the plates. Soap them up, set them aside, and once all done wash them off.

Last but not least, your greasy pans. Repeat the process and you're done.

This way you save water.

Bags of clothes!

This is my kitchen before all of these things get picked up. The majority of these are bags of clothes. I can only imagine what it will look after all of this is gone. Can't wait until Thursday.

A new site!

Thanks to my friend and owner of the awesome Barcey's in Bushwick, NY, Christine, I now have a site for another green place in NY.

It's called Build it Green, NYC This place will take old building materials, furniture and other household items for free and sell it. After the sale you will get a tax receipt. They have some really nice things for sale. I saw a nice antique stove, I love antique stoves.

The awesome thing about this place is that they will deconstruct your kitchen for free and sell everything. So not only do you get free demolition, you also get paid for the things you get rid of. Paid in the sense that you get a tax receipt. Well come the time I decide to remodel this ugly kitchen I will give them a call.

A place kind enough to take my junk...

I was hesitant on cleaning a lot of my rooms because of the fact that it was getting harder and  harder to take out large amounts of garbage.

I started becoming irritated because this was going to take forever to finish. I surfed the web and found this place: http://greenexcleanouts.com. Of course I find the site on Thursday at midnight so I can't call to ask for a quote, but I'm so excited anyways. I called the next day and the owner answered and he sounded really friendly.

Of course there is a fee, but considering it's NY, it's a reasonable fee. $280, was the estimate he gave me. I have a lot of things to get rid of and if it stays in that amount I will be super psyched. Come Monday I, as well as everyone else, will know how this all turned out.

Can someone help me out of here?!

I'm typing this while cleaning up my kitchen, again. Technically, I was never really done with this place. I managed to rearrange some of the cabinets, but honestly it doesn't seem to have made a dent in this kitchen.
I make room in one area only to find that now there are places that need a home and I have to find room for them and then I end up filling up a place that I was enjoying the emptiness of.

The things that are taking up the most room in the kitchen are the baby toys. I have a huge exersaucer, an old chair and a tummy time mat. Unfortunately, I don't know many people that might be in need for these so I'm going to give them to my sister hoping one of her friends might. At least in her area she's more likely to find a donation area.

Wll, back to work for me.